Bengt Gregory-Brown, (CS)²AI Co-Founder and President
March 2020
(CS)²AI Founder and President Bengt Gregory-Brown addresses concerns about the cyber security practitioner shortage
Signs of the skilled security practitioner shortage abound, it seems. Breaches and incidents continue to increase in scope and frequency. Market analysts predict high year-over-year growth in cyber security budgets, including both increased hiring and expanded training for existing personnel. Numerous reports, including recent releases from ISACA and Tripwire, highlight the length of time it takes to fill positions, the number of organizations unable to fill open cybersecurity spots on their team, and those planning to increase their open positions even further in the next year. RSA 2020 opened with talks about addressing the need by expanding our definitions of desired team members, noting that “unemployment is running as high as 80% in the neurodiverse talent pool. We need to consider potential not just expertise when we hire." Answering the needs of this workforce is the core driver of every part of what we do. Our work establishing and growing local chapter groups enables people in and entering the ICS/OT cyber security field to find and form professional communities of interest; to learn from each other; to start and improve their careers. Our ongoing series of Virtual Meetups helps educate ICS defenders and allow our members to engage directly with subject matter experts. Our ICS cyber security research projects answers questions crucial to understanding what’s going on in many areas of the (CS)2 field. The feedback we get from members is tremendous and motivating and could only be improved by more volunteers to help us go further and achieve even more of our mission goals. We are accomplishing great things and with the increased bandwidth that comes with more people joining the effort we know that we will accomplish even greater ones. So reach out today and find out how you can be part of answering the cyber security practitioner shortage.